The ultralightweight backpacker community has already done a good job of repurposing aluminum beverage cans and a few things like that.

I had a weird idea about an alternative to down insulation. Has anybody ever tried using dryer lint? It doesn't cost anything. It is very lightweight. Currently people are using more and more synthetic clothing, so there is not so much cotton lint showing up there.

The other material is #2 plastic, commonly found in one-gallon jugs for auto windshield washer solution. The main surface of that one-gallon jug is useful. I need a piece that is about 50% taller. Is there any normal product sold in a plastic jug that size? There are other plastics used for 5-gallon jugs, but they tend to be thicker and heavier.

I too have looked at my long hair cat while thinking that her fur would make excellent down material. Has anyone tried? Does a wet cat smell like a wet dog? The hair is incredibly down like and not greasy at all.

We have a jar of cockatoo down that we've been collecting. I imagine that tropical bird down probably isn't very warm as far as down goes.

This weekend I wore some fairly minimalist running shoes on a trail brushing project. I stepped on a branch and a thorn went straight through the shoe and into my foot. I thought after that experience that some insoles made of milk jug plastic or perhaps cardboard milk carton cardboard might have prevented it. It was pretty painful even a couple days later.

"I too have looked at my long hair cat while thinking that her fur would make excellent down material. Has anyone tried? Does a wet cat smell like a wet dog? The hair is incredibly down like and not greasy at all."

Haven't done anything with cat hair, but did with Angora rabbit fur. I sprayed it with a fluorocarbon DWR treatment, mixed it with some 550 duck down, and then put it on top of a layer of 2.5 oz Apex. No baffles, i wanted to see how it would tend to stay or shift without baffles. Haven't test it out yet because it was heavier than i wanted it to be. The lady who sold me a "1 lb" of it, gave me more than that and i hadn't bothered to check the weight before hand.

Anyways, quality Angora rabbit fur is very warm stuff. It's both rather fine/thin fibers on average, many of which also are rather hollow.

That's a great combination for trapping air. But, i don't think it would hold up to compression as well as down would, and it might matt or felt some (which is why i sprayed it with the DWR, hoping it might make it more slippery and less prone to same).

Unfortunately, i could not find any CLO type tests on Angora Rabbit fur, since a lot of people saying general things like, "it's 7" or "8" times warmer than wool, which doesn't really mean a whole lot.

It would be more ideal for smaller insulated garments, like mitts, maybe vests, etc. things that don't have to be compressed too much to put in ones pack.

I was thinking the same thing recently after finishing my down quilt. The 900 fp down I had reminded me of dryer lint as it came out of the bag (though lint obviously wouldn't have the nearly the same loft!). I have some of a tyvek roll left over, and I was thinking of hacking up a quilt from it with lint as the insulation. If it worked, I was considering the possibilities of making quilts like this for groups of scouts, the homeless, etc.

Could fiberglass insulation be used in clothing? I know working with the stuff is a PITA but if it were safely contained so you don't come into contact with it. I'm thinking the fibers might be able to pierce through most fabrics and leak though. I didn't bother searching the forums if this has already been brought up.

On a recent trip through Home Depot I noticed a half dozen interesting looking insulation products. A few I hefted, and they seemed pretty light. But I didn't take it any further than that, as the wife wanted to get moving. Look at the flooring materials; lots of interesting products. One was tiny foam balls adhered to a very thin plastic.